Fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna (@venetialamanna) has gone viral in a recent TikTok video for calling out fast fashion company Boohoo and its exploitive business practices.
In her video, the TikToker makes pasta while breaking down Boohoo's questionable endeavors.
La Manna introduces the Boohoo PLC Group, a British fashion giant that owns 13 fast fashion brands that collectively sell 207 million items annually. The group includes brands like PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, Boohoo, Misspap, and Debenhams.
Boohoo claims they are improving employee working conditions and sustainability practices, but La Manna is less than impressed with the company's recent actions.
@venetialamanna how do @boohoo have enough money to pay for a greenwashing campaign featuring Kourtney Kardashian as their newly appointed 'sustainability ambassador'? exploitation of course! #boohoobykourtneykardashian #boohoo #greenwashing #secondhandseptember #slowfashion #sustainablefashion ♬ original sound - Venetia La Manna
She cites a modern slavery investigation from 2020 in which officials discovered factory workers from the company's Leicester garment factories were making just £3.50 ($4.27) an hour.
While the company claimed this is "unacceptable," a recent survey found that more than half of workers are still paid below the minimum wage and forbidden from taking toilet breaks.
The company has recently made climate pledges, like claiming all of its materials will be sustainably sourced by 2030. However, the UK's Competition and Market Authority began investigating the company for greenwashing in January.
La Manna thinks the company's exploitive practices and dubious sustainability pledges go hand in hand.
The company's CEO, John Lyttle, is slated to receive a substantial bonus worth 200% of his £500,000 ($610,275) salary. Boohoo also recently appointed Kourtney Kardashian as its sustainability ambassador and launched a collection of 46 limited-edition items made from "recycled fibers."
"How do @boohoo have enough money to pay for a greenwashing campaign featuring Kourtney Kardashian as its newly appointed 'sustainability ambassador'? Exploitation of course," La Manna writes in her TikTok caption.
Fast fashion is infamous for producing an extremely high volume of clothes, way more than consumers can realistically purchase and wear long-term.
Between 80 to 150 billion garments are made yearly, and about 101 million tons worth of items end up in landfills. Altogether, the fashion industry is one of the world's top polluters, with high water consumption and pollution during production.
TikTokers expressed their disbelief about Boohoo's unethical policies in the video's comment section.
One user asks, "How is this legal?"
"I am angry and hungry now," another Tiktoker says. "I am hangry for just fashion!"
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